Around the mid-2000’s the performance component of Moore’s Law started to tail off. That slack was nicely picked up by architecture improvements which continue to march forward but add a new layer of complexity in performance optimization and verification. Nick Heaton (Distinguished Engineer and Verification Architect at… Read More
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Synopsys Accelerates Innovation on TSMC Advanced Processes
We all know that making advanced semiconductors is a team sport. TSMC can innovate the best processes, but without the right design flows, communication schemes and verified IP it becomes difficult to access those processes. Synopsys recently announced some details on this topic. It covers a lot of ground. The graphic at the top… Read More
Podcast EP223: The Impact Advanced Packaging Will Have on the Worldwide Semiconductor Industry with Bob Patti
Dan is joined by Bob Patti, the owner and President of NHanced Semiconductors. Previously, Bob founded ASIC Designs Inc., an R&D company specializing in high-performance systems and ASICs. During his 12 years with ASIC Designs he participated in more than 100 tapeouts. Tezzaron Semiconductor grew from that company, with… Read More
Tools for Chips and Dips an Overview of the Semiconductor Tools Market
From humble beginnings in military applications, the semiconductor industry has been fundamental to all societal growth, and everything that grows exponentially depends on semiconductors.
It is not a gentle industry. Products over two years old are unsellable, and there is either too much supply or none. Semiconductor scarcity… Read More
How Samtec Helps Achieve 224G PAM4 in the Real World
224 Gbps PAM4 gets attention for applications such as data center, AI/ML, accelerated computing, instrumentation and test and measurement. The question is how real is it and what are the challenges that need to be overcome to implement reliable channels at that data rate? If you wonder about these kinds of topics for your next design,… Read More
SoC Power Islands Verification with Hardware-assisted Verification
The ever-growing demand for longer battery life in mobile devices and energy savings in general have pushed power optimization to the top of designers’ concerns. While various techniques like multi-VT transistors and clock gating offer power savings at gate-level design, the real impact occurs at system level, where hardware… Read More
Anirudh Fireside Chats with Jensen and Cristiano
At CadenceLIVE 2024 Anirudh Devgan (President and CEO of Cadence) hosted two fireside chats, one with Jensen Huang (President and CEO of NVIDIA) and one with Cristiano Amon (President and CEO of Qualcomm). As you would expect both discussions were engaging and enlightening. What follows are my takeaways from those chats.
Anirudh
… Read MoreARC-V portfolio plus mature software IP targets three tiers
Synopsys is bridging its long-running ARC® processor IP strategy into a RISC-V architecture – Bernard Murphy introduced the news here on SemiWiki last November. We’re getting new insight from Synopsys on its ARC-V™ portfolio and how they see RISC-V IP plus their mature software development toolchain IP fitting customer needs… Read More
Siemens EDA Makes 3D IC Design More Accessible with Early Package Assembly Verification
2.5D and 3D ICs present special challenges since these designs contain multiple chiplets of different materials integrated in all three dimensions. This complexity demands full assembly verification of the entire stack, considering all the subtle electrical and physical interactions of the complete system. Identifying… Read More
Podcast EP222: The Importance of Managing and Preserving Ultrapure Water in Semiconductor Fabs with Jim Cannon
Dan is joined by Jim Cannon, Head of OEM and Markets at Mettler-Toledo Thornton. Jim has over 35 years of experience managing, designing, and developing ultrapure water treatment and technology. Jim is currently involved in the standards and regulatory organizations including the Facilities and Liquid Chemicals Committee,… Read More
CHIPS Act dies because employees are fired – NIST CHIPS people are probationary